Chibok girls: NAF raids Boko Haram hideouts

The military in Maiduguri, Borno State, said on Saturday that more air strikes have been launched on Boko Haram targets and locations by the Air Component team of Operation Lafiya Dole as part of efforts to locate the Chibok girls and by extension wipe out the insurgents.

The Deputy Theatre Commander (Air), Operation Lafiya Dole, Air Vice Marshal Isiaka Oladayo Amao, said this at a press briefing held at the media centre of Operation Lafiya Dole in Maiduguri, Borno State.

The briefing, according to Air Vice Marshal Amao, was to keep the public abreast of recent operations conducted by military in some parts of Borno State.

He said, “In continuation of the counter insurgency, the Air Component in the last one month conducted 286 operational sorties against terrorists’ targets from December 25 to date in the Sambisa Forest covering an area of 157,000km2 which is equivalent to the total land mass of South Korea, Portugal and Togo.

“A total of 536 hours 21 minutes were flown by various platforms engaged in the operations, translating into 316,637.5 litres of aviation fuel which amounts to N60.3 million, excluding the cost of maintenance and armament expended.”

One of the missions, according t him, was an airstrike on December 25 last year that hit some terrorists’ leaders and junior commanders that converged for a leadership meeting in Sambisa Forest apparently to plan an attack, but were neutralized by a precision strike that killed several terrorists.

Another milestone in the military mission, Amao said, was conducted on January 17 following intelligence report on the location of a “high value terrorists’ leader” at South of Arra village in the Sambisa Forest.